It's funny how memories just hit me sometimes, just out of the blue.
Once, my parents were fighting as I am sure most parents did, and it got rather ugly. My family was driving down the road and I don't even remember where we were but there were six of us total in the car counting my parents, myself and my three siblings.
We were driving a long distance and My mom was driving so that my dad could rest up a bit, Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes and he opened up the door and got out and started walking.
Everyone in the car was in tears.
He was our daddy. This was our lives and it looked like we were about to lose our daddy for good.
That didn't happen. Cooler heads prevailed and my mom picked my dad back up and we went on about our not so merry way.
I must have been eight or ten years old when this happened and I will never forget.
I will never know what life would have been like if he had kept on walking.
Fast forward to the year 2001. It was August. The infamous 9/11 hadn't even happened yet.
But, my dad was sick.
They called all the kids in to see him and they told us the news that he had a brain tumor. I will never forget as I was being told he probably hadn't much time to be with us.
My dad was watching my face during the whole process and I will never know if he was pleased with my reaction.
It's been many years since that day, and my dad passed away not long after that.
There are many questions I would have for my dad if I got to see him again and this would be one of the first questions out of my mouth.
Was he pleased with my reaction? Did I show that I loved him by reacting or lack of reacting?
Our house was never a walk in the park growing up, but I am glad my dad didn't just keep on walking that day so many years ago.
I remember that very clearly, too. No details about the actual argument. I remember mom telling us to roll the windows down so Pappy could hear us wailing! Awful memory. I'm glad he got back in the car, too.
ReplyDeleteI was at volleyball practice when I got the news. That was a really rough time all the way around. I was very proud of my brothers and how they stood up and stood together when things got hard. Good good men!